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gsh lover

Active member
Well, is it as bad as it sounded?
If you will be kind enough to post, please indicate what part of the State you are in. Don't want exact location just trying to get a sense of things.
I'm disabled right now or I would of been out there amongst them myself.
Thanks and good luck and be safe
 
gsh lover said:
Well, is it as bad as it sounded?
If you will be kind enough to post, please indicate what part of the State you are in. Don't want exact location just trying to get a sense of things.
I'm disabled right now or I would of been out there amongst them myself.
Thanks and good luck and be safe
Click to expand...
I can report that, for the first time since 2005, I did not hunt the opener. What I saw last year combined with the weather reports all summer led me to stay home and give the birds a break. Hopefully with a few wet years they’ll be back and I’ll still be able to make the trip. But I just couldn’t justify it this year.
 
NW desert bone dry and birds are rare. Probably finished out there for this season.
 
NWKS.. Walked 10 miles saw 14 birds total. 3 roosters (one of which fell to the gun) 11 hens. Overall dismal. Walked 6 different pieces of WIHA only three had birds in it.
Think it’ll be prairie chickens and clay birds for the rest of season..
 
westksbowhunter said:
There are a few good spots with birds but overall very poor. When I mean spots, a CRP that wasn't cut or turned but it might another 10-15 miles to find another spot. I have lost close to 90% of my private ground to farm ground.
Click to expand...
What is wrong with farm ground? I assume you referring to row crop?
 
Birds 90% down in SW/SC where we hunt mostly private. A couple spots w ok numbers. In what seems to be a direct correlation, 90-95% of all crp has been hayed or grazed down to nothing. Farmer also told me that he can sell crp that he bales right now- Sweet deal.
 
We saw a ton of birds Saturday…won’t say how many because you probably won’t believe me. They were VERY WILD; couldn’t get too close to them. Yesterday we saw far fewer but still VERY WILD! Super dry - even though the temps are cooperating, dogs are super beat up. Many more birds than expected, just need some moisture.
 
First two spots on Saturday were central Kansas, private, and normally hold birds. Saw three roosters, maybe. I think on of them was a re-flush. No hens. Moved about 25 miles NNE to some other private and saw decent numbers, perhaps even comparable to last year. Also saw two coveys of quail. It helped that the adjoining CRP was half hayed, while the stuff we were hunting wasn't. Killed 2 roosters, but we left the quail alone.

Sunday also central kansas, but 40-50 miles east of Saturday's spots. We hunted WIHA on Sunday. The first field was super thick and held quite a few birds. I missed a gimme, and I'm blaming it on fumbling the safety due to thick gloves. Second field also held birds, and two coveys. We killed a rooster and a quail out of that field.

All in, we probably saw 20-30 pheasants and 4 coveys of quail. The big surprise to me was our first two spots on Saturday. I was expecting a lot more from those.
 
Well we hunted south of Hays and here is my take. I kept notes on each fields numbers.

1) Very limited CRP as most have been mowed and baled.
2) If you find grass by stubble you better hunt it if you can.
3) WIHA way down and what I saw was poor habitat.
4) Good quail numbers!!!!
5) Rooster acted like late season bird flushing out of gun range.

Here is the numbers from my notes.
Field 1- Sunflower thick with weeds and stubble. 6 roosters 1 killed
Field 2- milo stubble next to private CRP 0 roosters 1 covey of 30 birds
Field 3- grass and shrubs surrounded by green wheat- 6 roosters 1 covey 1 rooster killed. (poor blocker positioning)
Field 4- weed patch next to cut milo 2 roosters both killed by me.
Field 5- CRP and Milo stubble 3 roosters which all lived.
Field 6- Weedy bottom next to milo and wheat stubble 6 roosters 4 killed.

I feel good about the quail numbers but think we got along way to go on the pheasant side.

Kick!
 
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